Operation: D-Dusk

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter 4: A Change in Plans

Elusive and Applejack bolted into the party cave in a panic, galloping up to Bubble Berry and stopping just behind him, panting. The party pony was drawing up some plans for the day of the attack. He spun around, his usual grin plastered on his face. “My lovercolts! What brings you to the super-secret party cave?”

Elusive nudged Applejack who looked back in confusion for a moment before looking back at the fashion pony in expectation. They both took a long hard look at each other in annoyance before Elusive finally rolled his eyes, returning to Bubble Berry. “Berry, I don’t know how to say this, but Dusk hated the lakeside idea. He wanted to move the date to Sweet Apple Acres on the hilltop, where you can see Ponyville and the orchards. He wanted to see the beautiful sun setting in the background, filling the valleys with oranges and reds.” Elusive let out a happy sigh. “Can’t blame him really.”

For a moment, Berry fell silent. His left eye twitched and his mane started to straighten out one hair at a time. “Is that so…?” he said slowly before pacing around them. “But… but we’ve made plans by the lakeside! With the big splash and them getting wet and… and now! Nonononono! This is bad, this is really, REAAAAAAAALLY bad!” Although his friend was showing clear signs of anxiety, Elusive couldn’t help but inwardly sigh in relief. Suddenly, the pink stallion paused his panicking and sat on his haunches. He reached into his mane and pulled out a metal pot and wooden spoon, tapping the pot and making a low-pitch ringing sound.

Both Applejack and Elusive were confused as the single note continued to ring inside the party cave before Berry sighed in relief. “You know what?” he said as he tossed the ringing bowl and spoon behind him. “I think that, while this is a setback, we can still do this… only now, we need to go back to the drawing board. Yes! We can still do this!”

The white unicorn was practically kicking himself over this, but he didn’t want to give his secret out so he remained still. “Really? Then how, pray tell, are you going to do that now that we’ve moved to a different location?”

“When the going gets tough,” Berry hopped over to his chalkboard, “the bold get creative! You guys said that it’s gonna take place on AJ’s farm, right?” They nodded. “Now, of course, our original splashing idea is gonna have to be scrapped, but there’s still plenty of ways to ruin their date over on the farm. There’s always rotten apples, or ants, or vampire fruit bats, except they’re not around yet…” The party pony put a hoof to his chin, humming in thought. “Never fear, you guys! We will come up with something. Although it’ll take us a while to rethink everything, we will come up with something.”

Elusive’s eyes shrank slightly at all the possible date-ruining ideas running through the Pink commander’s mind. “Okay, good ideas. So, umm… sure you can ruin the date, but how on earth is that going to stop Dusk and Solaris from dating?”

Bubble’s eyes widened greedily at the thought of spilling the beans to his grand plan. “Well, duh silly!” Berry giggled. “I’m gonna pin the catastrophe on one of them! I’ll plant a bunch of terrible things on the OTHER one to make it seem like he wants to hurt the other, they’ll fight, and then they’ll break up! Then we get our Dusky back.”

Elusive’s throat went dry, and even Applejack tensed a bit at the pure evilness of the plan. It seemed that no matter what kind of monkey wrench they tried to throw into his plans, Berry became even more determined than ever to go through such a disastrous plot at the cost of their friend’s happiness. But even at that moment, Elusive didn’t want to give up. He and Applejack would counter this plot by any means necessary.

“Well pardner,” Applejack began, “what exactly do ya want us ta do? We’ve already got Dusk on board with the whole double date thing.”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that.” Berry patted his friend’ blond mane. “We’ve still got a few days left before the big date, so you just let your Uncle Berry take care of everything. In the meantime, I suggest you two practice some more on being our undercover couple.”

Just then, Elusive got an idea. “Berry, dear, when you guys do come up with those ideas, could you perhaps tell us about them ahead of time? That way, we would know what we’d be doing once we go on our double date.”

“Sounds fair,” Berry nodded. “After our meetings, I’ll send you guys a secret message about our ideas beforehoof so you can prepare for the sabotaging. After all, the more prepared we are, the sooner we’ll get our Dusky back.”

The unicorn grinned wickedly. “Yes, that would be most helpful indeed.”

Berry paused and gave them a cautious look. Coming right up to Elusive’s face, Berry’s closer eye grey to epic proportions as he shot him a point-blank stare. “You two seem a bit fishy… Of course, it could be because you two are so getting into your characters! Faaaaaaaaaantabulous! But juuuuuuuuust to be sure, I’ll keep an eye on you.”

_*_

“This is bad. This is very very bad Lucy!” Applejack cried through ragged breaths. “That stallion right there is goin’ ta single-hoofedly do something diabolical to our closest friend. Ah kinda thought Dusk and Solaris were pretty darn cute, as well.”

Elusive rolled his eyes as the farmpony rambled on. He leaned onto Applejack and gave him a quick peck on the check. Applejack stopped rambling and blushed.

“An’ now what in tarnation?” Applejack replied, looking over at Elusive and clearly not impressed with his timing.

“Applejack, dearest, it was to get you to shut up. Look, the going has gotten tough. Bubble’s plans are undisputedly diabolical, there’s no doubting that, but we need to do this for Dusk’s sake. Besides… I am, well, rather beginning to enjoy working with you more and more. Once this all blows over, I think we may be able to start over again, seeing as your feelings are clearly in my direction.” Elusive said while looking head, his face not giving too much away. Applejack looked down a bit, thinking hard. Silence fell over the two as the barn came into sight.

“Ah didn’t really think that y’all would be interested in… well, you get the picture.” Applejack looked away from his friend.

“Applejack,” Elusive sighed, looking opposite his friend. “I like who I want to. A pony is a pony. If their personality is ugly, then I wouldn’t so much as a sniff in their romantic direction. You… I don’t know. You are sensible as of late, and your infatuation for me is a little sweet.”

“Ya think I’m sweet?” Applejack looked back at Elusive expectantly.

A cheeky smirk filled Elusive’s face as he trotted slowly over to Applejack. The farmpony slowly backed up, getting smaller and smaller until he was almost on his back as Elusive’s muzzle was mere centimeters from his own. “Just because I look at personality, my fine farmer friend, does not mean that I can’t make a mare out of that sweet little hindquarters.” Elusive backed off and lifted a shivering Applejack back up with his magic. Once he was placed on all fours, the unicorn walked off without him.

“Holy hay those fashionistas have flame.” He whispered to himself as he caught back up.

Elusive craned his neck over as soon as his friend walked back up to his side. “You know,” he began, “I think there’s a way that we can still save Dusk’s relationship.”

Applejack blinked. “Really? How? Ya heard Berry. He’s gonna keep a close eye on us.”

“That’s not quite accurate,” Elusive shook his head with a smirk.

“Huh?”

“Are you sure that’s what he said?” he questioned. “Really think about it. Who exactly did he say he would be watching over?”

The farmer thought back to the party cave, trying to remember what their pink friend had told-- “Hold on a sec. He said that he’d be keepin’ an eye on you now that Ah think about it.”

“Exactly! And that right there is the biggest loophole in his plans. Of course, he’s going to make sure that I don’t sabotage the sabotage, but who would dare to imagine that somepony like yourself would do something so bold?”

“Me?”

The unicorn nodded with enthusiasm. “Yes. Really think about it. You’re the last pony on the face of the planet that would ever do something so sneaky, and that’s the beauty of it! Nopony would ever suspect it, not even--”

“Not even Bubble Berry!” Applejack finished. “Oh, that’s real clever! While he’s eyein’ ya, Ah’ll be the one helpin’ out Dusk.”

“Now you’re getting it.” Elusive patted the farmer on the back. “It’s rather amazing how many problems we can solve when we put our minds to it. We are geniuses at outwitting Berry.”

Applejack chuckled. “Ya really think that about me? Ah mean, it’s weird that you’d consider me a genius and what-not.”

“To be frank with you Applejack, you and your family are very intelligent ponies when you’ve set your mind to it. You could say that it’s another thing that I like about you. It’s a charm to have you as a friend. The way I see it, you could have grown a fifth hoof and I would still give you a fair chance. Besides, I rather do like a challenge when it comes to fashion.” Elusive winked.

“Wow,” the farmer replied with a whistle, “now yer just makin’ me wish Ah would’ve said somethin’ to ya sooner if ya think Ah’m that special.” By now, the two realized that they were a few hoofsteps away from the barn house. “Hey Lucy, Ah just wanna thank ya fer all this and placin’ so much trust in me ta help with Dusk.”

“Oh, the pleasure’s all mine, sweetie. I could never do this without you. Honestly, I don’t know what those other ponies were thinking, siding with Berry. I still love him as a friend, but we have to make him see the light, even though he has good intentions. Alright, let’s go set up our anti-Berry plan.” Elusive smiled, allowing Applejack to open the barn door. He entered, but not without receiving a little smack on his rump from Elusive. The fashion pony giggled, entering after his shocked friend stopped shaking in the doorway.

Comments

[livinthelife]

Alright, you two. You're on the right track, but if your plan can be described with the word 'shenanigans' you should get another plan. And this plan has shenanigans written all over it. Well, not literally. I didn't notice the author using the word even once, but y'all know what I mean. Y'all are cute together, though. I don't usually love RariJack, but y'all seem to work.